Beginning at the End
by BlondeDixonChick
Summary: The group seemed to have found a safe refuge on the campus of an abandoned military academy. Relationships grow as well as unborn children.One day out hunting Daryl and Merle vanish, leaving the women in their lives heartbroken. Could a stranger shed some light on their disapperance?
1. Chapter 1

**Thank for taking the time to read. This is my first shot at this, I am not a writer nor want to be, I am just an woman with a very active imagination! I wanted to start this story towards the end and then go back to the beginning with the next chapter. I value your imput, you may find this nothing but ramblings, but do want to know if you think I should continue on. I will do the disclaimer thing. I dont have claim to anything Walking Dead ..ect ect.. hope you enjoy!**

Another sharp contraction tore through her body, the waves of pain moving across her abdomen and down her thighs. Sweat ran down the back of her neck,down her face and in between her breasts causing her light cotton dress to cling to her . Her hands gripped the arms of the chair, knuckles white. Still, she said nothing. She could feel Hershel's eyes on her,practically boring into her, as he stood next to her rocking chair.

"Stace, you can't sit out here much longer" he told her. " I'm timing them even though you aren't sayin' anything you take a death grip on that chair when they start, and I'm guessin' they're about 5 minutes apart now." Hershel reached down and picked up her wrist, timing her pulse which was racing.

" I know that you are the doctor and I'm just a vet," he continued on, "But still we both know you are in active labor and the last time I checked, at 7 centimeters. Soon we are going to have to get you inside or you're goin' to have that baby on this porch." He put her hand gently back down on the chair.

" I know "

Stacie gave him a slight nod, her voice just a whisper, as if speaking would take an excessive amount of energy that she did not have. She wouldn't look up at him,instead continued staring straight ahead,her sad, jade green eyes scanning the long driveway up to the house where she sat on the massive wooden porch and rocked slowly,her right hand rubbing her belly , watching, waiting,praying.

The military academy had become their safe haven when they came upon it almost 6 months ago. They claimed the giant President's Mansion as their own, killing the remaining walkers that roamed aimlessly on the campus . It was just as secure as any military base. A high security fence not only surrounded the entire property the of the campus but an additional one built of bricks and gated, surrounded the house. They reinforced it in every way they could, and it had held. Also It was obvious that some form of a military unit had taken up residence here when the whole world went to hell, weapons,food and medical supplies were abundant.

There were 13 of them , 14 if you counted Sam, which everyone did.

Sam , Stacie's German Shepherd, her constant companion . He had proved invaluable to the group as he had saved their lives many times over, his bark and growl always alerting them that walkers were near, even when they hadn't been spotted yet. He was now sitting on the porch next to her, not leaving her side, as if knowing the turmoil that engulfed his mistress . Her left hand ran absentmindedly over his shiny black and sable coat as she continued to rock slowly back and forth.

Herschel let out a sigh and turned to Maggie, who was perched on the railing that surrounded the vast porch.

"Keep an eye on her please?" he asked.

Maggie, who had also been staring off in the same direction as her friend, turned to her father and nodded. Herschel took in the look of worry in her face , not just for what her friend was going through, but herself as well. His eyes wandered over the faded t shirt she wore, Glenn's of course, and down to the now promenent bump in her belly.

"They are going to be just fine" he told her,patting her arm as he turned and walked inside.

Maggie turned to Stacie, and could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, was this going to be her fate also? Sitting on the porch in labor waiting, watching, praying that the father of her child would still be alive and return home to her?

XXXXXX

It was a rescue mission,possibly a suicide mission, with a slim to none chance of being successful. They all knew it. Four days ago..after Daryl had been missing for over 2 months, a glimmer of hope. Rick and Glenn came upon a lone elderly man,near death, crawling along the the middle of the road, as they once again had gone out if hopes of finding Daryl alive. The man, who was in such bad shape they almost mistook him for a walker, was ranting and not making much sense, but they could put together some of what he was saying.

He had been kept in a prison run by a lunatic who kept men and women captive and had them battle walkers to the death for his and his group's entertainment. As the delerious man went on and on about all the horror , he kept mentioning a man, another captive, who had carried a crossbow, and his brother who was missing a hand. How the two were kept in a cell only to be taken to the "arena" time and time again to take on the walkers in a battle to the death. He went on to say how at night, the younger of the two men would cry out in his sleep,horrible anguish in his voice, always something about "Stay" and couldnt understand why anyone would want to stay there much less cry over it.

Rick and Glenn both knew instantly. Daryl was still alive. Calling out his wife's name as he slept,trapped in an endless nightmare. It also appeared that Merle,too, was alive,and from the description the man gave the only place they could be was the prison.

The elderly man,emaciated and dehydrated, passed away quickly thereafter. It sadden Rick to have to put his body into a ditch and put a bullet in this man's head,but knew if he didnt he would turn quickly and be dangerous.

On the way back to the campus, Rick and Glenn rehashed some of the events that occured in the prison during the time the group was held captive there.

Stacie had killed the Governor during one particularly brutal afternoon.

She had been at the start of her second trimester, but that didn't stop the Governor from putting her in the arena to do battle. He dressed her all in black, head to toe, turning her into some kind of quasi-gladiatior.

It all back fired though when she and Merle, who the Governor forced into the arena to kill her as his brother watched, formed a brief had been so weak after her long fought battles with walkers, she was no match for Merle. After beating on her a bit, trying hard to make it seem convincing to the Governor without hurting her, Merle boosted her up over the wall where in an instant she drew her machete and beheaded the evil Governer. It cost a dear price, for soon after it was over, Stacie miscarried one of the twins.

"Bet you one of his henchmen took over." Rick told Glenn with a disgusted snort.

" Musta come across Daryl and Merle hunting and captured em', payback I guess"

"Then why not just kill them?" Glenn asked

Rick thought this over for a moment.

"Then what fun would they have just doing that? Those sick bastards are blood thirsty, as if a world full of walkers wasn't enough. Now they have to have made a sport of it." Rick let out a long sigh , thinking of Daryl and the torment he must be going through.

"We have to go back there and get them." Glenn looked over at Rick waiting for his reply.

" Going to be getting dark soon," he spoke. "Prisons a good 50 miles, we will have to set out early in the morning, take another person with us."

Glenn thought for a moment, then voiced the question that Rick had running through his mind.

"With the prison so far away, how did they find Daryl and Merle? Its not like the go out for miles hunting, that means they got close to us."

"That is exactly what I'm thinkin'." Rick admitted, but thought to himself:

_"But they hadn't stumbled upon our safe haven, not yet anyways"_

Upon returning to the front entrance of the Academy campus, Rick and Glenn got out of the beat up SUV they were driving and unlocked the main gate. Old and rusted it made a loud high pitched squeal as they opened it.

" Man, that is like ringing the dinner bell." Glenn said.

"Needs to be oiled that's for sure." Rick replied

Rick returned to the battered vehicle and drove through the gate and waited as Glenn closed it behind him.

"Pain in the ass opening and closing gates." he grumbled tp Rick as they proceded up the long drive to the gate of the main house.

"Well some day you'll be glad we do just that, keeps us safe in here. You also got a baby on the way don't forget, we need to be safe, all the times, at all costs." He paused for a moment.

"From both the living and the dead."

They both exited the vehicle again and manually opened the gate to the house, which opened with more ease than the main gate. Rick once again got into the SUV and drove through the gate.

After closing the gate behind Rick, Glenn followed on foot up to the portico of the massive house.

As they made their way up the steps of the entrance way Maggie and Lori, baby Emma cradled in her arms, came out of the house to greet them.

"We found somethin' out today, maybe somethin' good." Rick told them. "Lets go inside so I can tell everyone at once." He turned to Lori, kissed her briefly on the lips and leaned over and kissed baby Emma's forhead and asked Lori." Where is Stacie?"

XXXXXX

Rick gathered the group together in the living room where Stacie, in her final days of pregnancy, held her place on an expensive but worn couch, feet elevated by several pillows.

Andrea and Sam, as usual , sat on the floor next to her. T-Dog, who had taken on some what of a self appointed guardian role to the expectant mother took the closet seat possible to her, on the once grand staircase. Maggie, Hershel and Beth stood together near the vast fireplace while Carol, Lori and Carl sat on another sofa.

It was Stacie who Rick went to .

Dressed in one of Daryl's old flannel shirts with the sleeves torn off, 2 sizes too big, it made her deteriorating apperance even more pronounced. It was enough to shock him. Long gone were her "chipmunk cheeks" as Daryl called them when teasing her, the part of her beautiful heart shaped face that when she smiled ( which had been often back then) made her eyes squint . Her once tan face was very pale and haggard, her cheek bones now prominant. Those brilliant jade green eyes, which used to sparkle when laughing, and shoot daggers when angry, where now dull, as if the light had gone out of them. Her long blonde hair hung lifeless in a hasty pony tail. Her arms, once strong and muscular from years of working out , had lost all thier muscle tone. Her legs as well. When they first met her almost 10 months ago, she appeared to be on the chunky side, but as everyone had found out , she had been rock solid muscle from her years of service in the Marines. Now she was thin to the point of being emaciated, but her belly was another story, huge, swollen with Daryl's unborn child.. For a moment Rick had a startling thought:

"_The baby is devouring her from the inside out"_

Could it be possible? He, like the rest of them, were hoping Stacie would pass her immunity to the bites onto her and Daryl's child, but what if it was just the opposite? Jenner said they all were infected, which proved not to be true in Stacie's case, but what about Daryl? Just as he and Lori prayed to the days up to Emma's birth, that she would not be born only to die immediatly and turn. Prayers were answered after Lori, enduring a lon,g hard 18 hour labor, brought Emma into the world. Stacie, who attended the birth, held her up to them and proclaimed her:

"Perfect"

"She's perfect" Stacie had told them, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible but failed miserably. Daryl had been gone a month then. Her nights of crying to sleep now behind her,she now just felt empty, a shell of her former self. Only when the baby inside her made his presence known by moving or kicking, would a small smile play across her lips as she rubbed her hands over her abdomen.

Now here was Rick, standing in front of her, telling her what she had longed to hear these past weeks . Daryl was alive, or at least he had been a few days ago.

" I promise that I will bring him home to you, Stace." He told her.

Lori's sudden intake of air was not lost on the group. Having just delivered Emma barely a month ago, she did not want Rick to risk his own life _again,_ to save someone, even if it was Daryl.

Rick turned to her,knowing from past experiences she was not happy about it . She said nothing, but he could see her pleading with her eyes. She knew what Daryl had come to mean to this group. They all had become family, but she did not want to risk losing her husband for anyone. Especially if it meant he was returning to the prison.

"I'm going too" Glenn spoke up.

"Glenn.." Maggie started and stopped, biting her tongue for she was used to this being Glenn's way. If there was any hope of Daryl still being alive he would be a huge asset to Rick in his rescue. He patted her now obvious baby bump.

"It will be ok," he told her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him, "I promise"

"Count me in" T-Dog spoke from where he sat on the stairs. He was thinking on how many times Daryl had saved his ass, and maybe he could help return the favor. He also thought about how much Stacie had come to mean to him, hell , what she meant to all of them. If he could help restore her happiness he would do what ever it took.

"Me too" Andrea spoke up quietly from her spot on the floor next to Stacie. She reached over and took her hand and squeezed it, and thinking how cold it felt. Stacie squeezed her hand back in a grateful gesture.

"Now we all can't go" Rick stated the obvious. "We need some here, just in case.." his words trailed off, but they all knew what the words "just in case" meant. Rick looked around the room, taking in the expression on everyone's faces.

"Rick"

Stacie spoke up softly. As he turned back to her she held out a trembling hand to him which he took. It seemed so small and cold in his, far from the firm handshake she gave him when Daryl first introduced her to the group.

"Please be careful," she told him, "if you find that there is no hope,p..please don't put your lives in any more danger then you have to." Her words caught in her throat and her eyes teared up.

Rick gave her hand a slight squeeze.

" I am goin' to bring him home to you" he told her ." Tell that baby to hold on til' his daddy comes home."

Stacie squeezed his hand lightly in return and a small smile came to her lips and her eyes lit a brief second Rick caught a glimpse of the old Stacie, the one that at first they were wary and sometimes had even been a little afraid of, then as trust grew, forever indebted to her for saving Carl and for all the wisdom she carried and brought to the group. Rick could clearly see why Daryl had fallen so in love with her, that it had changed him, molded him into the man he now was.

She released his hand and returned hers once again to her belly.

Rick looked up and caught Lori's eye, she gave a small nod of her head in approval. He turned and looked at everyone of them one at a time. Unanimously then all nodded.

" Bring him home, Rick" Hershel told him. "Might n' as well bring that mean spirited brother of his along too while yer at it."

Merle in the past was never one of the groups favorites, some still hold him partially responsible for Stacie losing the one twin , but at the same time credited him with saving her life so she could do what she did to ensure their escape from the prison.

Rick noticed a small grin come over Andrea's face that gave him that " a ha" moment . Andrea would be happy to have Merle back. For what ever reason he really did not want to know, but could imagine. From this whole " end of the world" disaster, rose the most unlikly of couples.

Hershel started to move from his place by the fireplace towards the kitchen. As he did so he briefly stopped in front of Carol and placed a hand on her shoulcer squeezing lightly. She looked up at him with her soft, doe like eyes, covered his hand with hers and squeezed his in return. She released when he started to move on out of the room. Their relationship now no secret to the group.

At one time Rick was sure Daryl and Carol would have partnered up, until that day in the woods almost 10 months ago.. when Daryl came across Stacie, who at first saved his life, then threatend to gut him for spying on her...

**Thank you all for reading. My next chapter will go back to the beginning , how Daryl and Stacie's paths first cross and touch on some of her life beforehand . I also hope you will like Sam, who plays a major role in the story.**


	2. Chapter 2 The Beginning

**A/N **Now we go back to the very beginning, where Daryl first comes across Stacie. Sorry it took me awhile to get this out it's been crazy at work.

Daryl stopped to get his bearings. He glanced up at the sky, the late August sun burned down on him, even in the thick forest the rays that got through burned hot on his bare arms. Sweat ran down his face and chest , molding his torn cotton shirt to his torso. It was hot, stifling, oppressive. Even drawing a breath was a chore. He moved a little to his right to seek refuge from the sun under the branches of a huge oak tree.

"You picked a fine time to run off Sophia," he muttered out loud to himself. " Couldn't be any hotter."

He pulled a ragged handkerchief out of his back pocket of his worn work pants and mopped sweaty face, taking some of the grime off it as he did, but leaving his permanant scowl. He didn't care. No use trying to stay clean these days. No one to try to impress, not that he would even try if there was, it wasn't his way. Right now he had enought of his own problems he had to deal with and didn't need anymore.

He stuffed the dirty towel back into the back pocket of his work pants and continued moving quietly through the woods.

Hell, this wasn't Sophia's fault that she'd run off, correction, was chased off. If it was anyone's fault it was either Dale's for failing to see the approaching herd while on lookout , or Rick's, for finding Sophia once and having her hide, leaving her on her own again.

Daryl grunted to himself.

_"Dale ain't nutin' but an' old man, if its anyone's fault it's that damn Rick's. What kinda idiot leaves a little girl alone in woods full of walkers?"_

He didn't care what Rick's excuse was..something about drawing the walkers away from Sophia, yeah right. Some big badass cop he is.

_"Wern't nothin' but 2 of them, he should have stood his ground and killed them then in there, but no, he had to run off leaving Sophia alone, hidin' under a fallen tree at the river bank. When he went back for her, she was gone. 'course she was gone, whadde expect?"_

Daryl mumbled to himself and spat out in disgust. RIck was a cop, as was Shane, and Daryl had no use for cops. Too many times a cruiser would pull up in front of the rundown trailer where he lived with his daddy and older brother . Most of the time the were looking for Merle and on several occasions, himself. The cops were always loud and obnoxious, rattling off demeaning insults, and sometimes resorting to brute force if Merle got out of line. Daryl was sure they would do the same with him, so he stayed as polite as his upbringing allowed.

Truth be known Daryl had no use for any authority figure.

Started with his daddy and his belt that he took to his back, sometimes his legs or chest and on more than one occasion, his face. Then it moved on to teachers who would rap his small hands with a ruler and send him to the principals office where he met with the paddle. Sometimes he hurt so bad that even days afterwards he would have to bite his bottom lip from crying out when he tried to sit down. He wasn't a bad kid, he just usually wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He would have rather had to deal with the paddle every day then his daddy's belt.

Pushing the bad memories from his mind and mumbling a few obsenties for getting distracted from the task at hand, he pushed on through the woods.

He continued on moving south. He lost Sophia's tracks hours ago but pressed on. He needed to find her, thinking of how scared she must be to be out in the woods all alone. More so he did not want to go back and face Carol and tell her he had no luck.

He knew Carol was starting to depend on him more and more. He didn't like it. Not that he didn't like her, she was ok, but that is as far as it went for him. The last thing he needed was some broad hanging on to his coat didn't want anyone to depend on him for anything, nor him depend on anyone else. But it was those damn eyes. Like a doe's, soft and pleading. He couldn't say no to them.

"_She needs ta get any other ideas she may be gettin' out of her foolish head now!"_ he thought angrily to himself. "_I have enough friggin'problems as it is without some useless woman makin' everything worse"_

A sound pulled Daryl from his thoughts. Not sure exactly what he heard he turned towards the direction it came from,paused and listened to see if he could hear it again.

Laughter, a woman's voice.

Quietly and quickly he made his way in the direction the laughter came from, careful not to make a sound, not sure what he would find.

He could hear it again, it was coming somewhere below him now.

He made his way down a sloped embankment towards a thick tree line.

A little louder now, he strained to try to catch what was being said, the light breeze carried it to him. Definitly female.

At the tree line now, he quietly picked his way through the underbrush until he could make out where the voice was coming from.

Below him.

Creeping a little closer, silently, almost holding his breath as to not make a sound, he could see just beyond the tree line where the ground sloped down to a small creek. Full from the torrential rain that occured a few days ago, he hoped the rushing water would cover any sound he made.

It took him a few seconds to actually process what he was seeing.

A large black vehicle , a make that Daryl wasn't sure of, was backed down to the creek, the back of it opened.

"_Must be some kinda SUV or somethin' the army would have" _he thought to himself.

There were supplies scattered around on the ground at the back of the vehicles..boxes of some sort, he couldnt make out the printing on them. Assorted camping gear, a cooler.

Someone had set up camp, out in the open as if they didn't have a care in the world.

"_Gotta be a real idiot,leavin' himself wide open like that,"_ he thought to himself,disgusted at the stupidity.

It was then he saw her, his pulse quickened,breath caught in his throat.

**A/N** Sorry it's a short chapter but I wanted to get the story going again since the first part I published last week. Will try to get the next one out sooner. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all for reading and reviews! Continuing on now is Daryl's encounter with Stacie and Sam. Sam's commands ( spoken in German) are noted with an asterisk and the meaning of them given at the end of the chapter.**

Daryl didn't see her at first. He had been too busy trying to figure out what kind of idiot was camped out in the middle of no man's land in some type of suped up Hummer, just waiting to be dinner. But then, there she was.

She was in the creek, on the other side of the vehicle, knelt over one of the biggest German Shepherds Daryl had ever seen. He was getting a bath and didn't seem to thrilled about it.

But it was her he couldn't take his eyes off.

Knelt over the dog,her back to him, of course the first thing he noticed was her backside.

Clad in what appeared to be black boy shorts, Daryl took it all in.

She wouldn't be mistaken for thin, that's for sure, but Daryl didn't like thin. She wasnt what you would call fat either, she was ..

Built.

His eyes moved over her well rounded buttocks and then moved down to her muscular thighs and toned calves.

She was talking to the dog as she rinsed him off by dumping bucketfuls of water over him, her hands rubbing through his thick sable and black coat. Her voice carried up to him but he couldn't quite make out the words.

She stood up then, her back still to him and stretched. She was wearing a black sports bra, but he could still make out that she had a rather large tattoo going across her back between her shoulder blades, some type of lettering. She seemed of pretty good height, maybe as tall as he was from what he could tell.

Her shoulders were broad and she had white bleach blonde hair that hung down her back in a pony tail.

_"One of those softball players." _Daryl thought to himself. He had seen a college team playing once on the tv in a bar. Thats what her build reminded him of.

The dog shook himself spraying water all over the woman.

"Sam!" her voice rang out in a jovially manner. "Stop, you silly mutt!"

Sam, bath time over, was out of the creek now and shaking himself off again.

"Uggh stop! Or I'm gonna need a bath next!" she told the dog

_"Oh please do.." _Daryl thought to himself. Then he shook his head. What the hell was he thinking? The last thing he needed was another distraction.

He turned to start to walk away, but heard that laugh again, and turned back to the scene at the creek.

He could see her face now, and suddenly he didn't want to go anywhere. He wanted to see more of her. So did other parts of his body which were starting to come to life.

"Awww, shit.."

Daryl swore under his breath. He hitched his cross-bow up a little higher over his left shoulder while making some rearrangements in his pants with his right hand. Great, out in the middle of the woods, watching some half-naked broad playing in a creek like she didn't have a care in the world, and he was getting a raging hard on.

He took a step back and there was a sharp crack as he stepped on a fallen branch. He cringed hoping the noise went undetected, but when he glanced back to the creek he saw that he had roused the dogs attention. He was staring in Daryl's direction, tail wagging slowly. The woman too, stared now in his general direction and seemed to be on alert.

_"Fuck" _he thought. The last thing he wanted was to be caught playing peeping tom with his hand in his pants.

He stood stock still. Eyes not leaving the girl or the dog. The dog lowered his head and Daryl could hear him let out a loud growl.

He figured before he got flushed out he would call out to her, when suddenly he heard a noise coming behind him. He spun around to see a lone walker closing ground on him, arms stretched out reaching for him. Back peddling Daryl lost his footing and found himself flying backwards through the brush and down the embankment towards the creek. He landed once on his side, his forehead striking something hard, and continued rolling backwards, falling towards the creek landing flat on his back in the shallow water.

Stunned but conscious he tried to scoot crab like away from the creäture as it tore down the embankment after him.

The rocky bottom of the creek tore into his back, blood from a cut on his forehead dripped into his eye, blurring his vision.

Through the blood he saw an object hurl itself at the walker, knocking to the ground.

The dog!

He watched in amazement as the animal kept the walker at bay, barking and snapping at it. Within an instant the woman was there, lobbing off the walker's head with some kind of curved machete, the wicked blade slicing through the rotting flesh like a knife through warm butter. She then plunged the weapon through the eye socket of the severed head.

She turned to the dog.

* "Braver Hund!"

The dog came to her wagging his tail.

"Good boy, good boy." she ran her hand through his thick fur.

Daryl let out a sigh of relief at his close call and started to try to get up.

She was on him in a flash.

She straddled his chest. Thighs gripping his sides, the wicked blade at his throat. The sudden weight on his chest forces the air from his lungs.

"Where you _spying _on me?" she demanded.

"No..I.." Daryl's voice caught in his throat as he got a look at the woman up close.

Her eyes were a color green he had never seen before..they seemed to practically glow, possibly because she was angry. Her face tan and heart shaped, she was beyond pretty, exotic would be a better description. She was older than he first thought, could be his age or maybe even a few years older. His eyes moved down her neck from which a pair of dog tags hung , and what he saw then shocked him.

The scars.

She was covered with them. Wicked criss cross patterns that started at the base of her throat and went down her chest.

"Hello!" she held the blade tighter to his throat. " My eyes are up here." she told him." What are you doing out here?"

Daryl swallowed nervously, debating if to just answer here or try to fight his way out. Judging by the hold her thighs had on him, he opted to answer.

"Lookin' for a little girl that got lost from our group." he told her. " You seen one?"

The woman studied his face, her green eyes holding onto his blue ones ,scrutinizing him. The side of her mouth twitched, as if she was trying not to grin. Daryl found himself looking at her lips and wondering what it would be like to..

"OOFFF!" he exclaimed with a rush of air from his lungs as she suddenly shifted her weight back and sat right down on his lower stomach.

" Your not exactly light ya know!" he told her.

She smiled then, a brilliant mega watt smile that lit up her whole face . It pushed out her cheeks and caused her eyes to squint.

_"Chipmunk cheeks"_ Daryl thought to himself.

Still her gaze fixed on his face as if looking for any sign of deception, Daryl started to feel uncomfortable under her scrutiny, especially when another part of his body was starting to spring to life.

_"Oh Christ, please no, not now..."_ he thought to himself.

The girl had now caught on to his predicament, could actually feel it growing. She burst out laughing.

" I don't mean to sound cliché," she told him, "but is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" she asked him, but still not moving.

The dog who had held his position a few feet from them let out a 'chuff', almost as if he was laughing at him along with his mistress.

Daryl started to feel rage and embarrassment build up inside of him.

"Ain't funny!" he practically shouted at her. "You wouldn't be laughin' if someone less gentlemanly than me came 'cross you out here , while yous' all alone runnin' around in your panties and such."

This only caused her to laugh harder.

"But I am perfectly safe with you spying on me through the bushes right ?" she teased.

"I'm serious!"

She paused and thought about that for a moment, the smile never leaving her face.

"While I really do appreciate your concern," she told him, "I can assure you that I am very capable of taking care of myself." Her eyes still holding on to his, they almost seemed to dance with light , as if what he told her was indeed, very funny." And in regards to your question,no I have not seen anyone except you."

_"Great, an uppity educated bitch, just what I need"_ Daryl thought.

" So whadcha 'spect me to do? I come across a half naked broad in the middle of the woods...ya think I ain't gonna look? It's almost like ya was beggin' for some one to come along and.." he stopped realizing what it might sound like he was implying.

She stopped laughing then, her eyes narrowed, she spoke so quietly to him he had to strain to hear her over the rushing water.

" Well this 'broad' has you flat on your back with a kukri to your throat, and if that wasn't bad enough for you my friend, my partner is sitting 5 feet from you and could rip your balls off with one command, so my advice to you is watch what you say, especially to someone who just saved your ass, and who could gut you with the flip of a wrist." and as if to emphasize she pulled the blade away and swung it around several times in the air with precise movement.

_"Oh great, she is bat shit crazy." _Daryl thought. Best to just make peace and be gone.

She leaned forward then and touched his face. Daryl flinched and tried to pull away.

"Easy, I won't hurt you."

"That's pretty funny since you's sittin'on me holding a big ass knife to my throat threatenin' to gut me."

"Kukri." she stated.

"Wha'?"

"It's called a Kukri, this." she waved the weapon, it's curved blade gleaming in the sun.

" It's the symbolic weapon of the Nepalese army." she explained to him.

Daryl looked perplexed. Having clue to what she just told him meant for he never heard of such an army, but wasn't about to admit it. He lifted his head fighting dizziness, looked around and pointed to the object that had landed at the bottom of the embankment.

"Crossbow." he told her. "Symbolic weapon of 'don't piss off Daryl Dixon'." He dropped his head back down, still partly in the water.

She smiled again.

" Well at least you have a sense of humor."

For the first time he found himself fighting not to smile back.

" I need to stitch your head," she told him as she slowly started to rise off of him.

Daryl eyed her warily.

"What are you? A fuckin' nurse of sumthin'?" he grumbled.

She stood above him for a moment, looking down at him.

"No, I'm a fuckin' doctor ." she told him, and then added:

"Or sumpthin." imitating him. She smiled again, then bent down and offered her hand.

Daryl, still somewhat irritated at himself for letting this woman get the best of him, waved her hand away and attempted to stand on his own only to find himself down on his knees. Nausea washed over him and he was very light headed.

"Easy cowboy." She was right next to him, taking his arm.

He let her help him up, noting how warm and strong her hand felt on his arm.

She guided him towards the back of the vehicle. He noted she was only an inch or two shorter than his 6 feet.

"Easy now, you could have a concussion. That 's a pretty good laceration you have and I wouldn't be surprised if you did."

She continued leading him to the back of the suv. He noticed the dog followed right behind.

"Here,sit." She put him up against the opened back of the SUV . Daryl perched himself on the back, blood was still oozing down his face making seeing difficult. Putting her weapon away in its sheath, she opened a box and removed some gauze.

She dabbed the cut gently to remove some of the blood that had started to cake on. Daryl flinched involuntarily.

"Now don't tell me a big strapping 'gentleman' like yourself is going to faint on me over a little cut," she teased him, her eyes dancing mischievously,a smile playing at her lips.

A sudden urge came over Daryl.

He grabbed her wrist, and held it tight, his eyes not leaving hers.

"Maybe I ain't no gentleman, lady." his voice gruff, eyes searching hers, waiting for a response.

She held his gaze for a moment then replied softly:

"Maybe I ain't no lady".

The words hung there between them.

Daryl hung on to her wrist as he let his eyes roam down her body, over her full breasts which strained against the sports bra, the outline of her hardening nipples visible. Down over her bare stomach which like her chest were covered in horrible scars. His eyes continued downwards to the top of the black boyshorts she wore wondering ...

With his free hand he slowly reached out and lightly ran his thumb over a scar on her abdomen. Wondering how something like this happened to her, and actually feeling anger well up inside of him that it did happen.

He heard her take a sharp breath. He wasn't the only one that felt some sort of connection going on.

"Ahem" she cleared her throat. He was pulled out of his thoughts, lifted his thumb from her skin, his eyes moving back up to her face, catching sight of her dog tags as he did . He started to reach out to them.

"Don't." One word, spoken like a command. Daryl paused, hand in midair, his eyes back on hers.

He could see something in her eyes but not sure what it was, fear maybe? He continued to reach towards the tags.

*"Hier!"

She spoke out the single word. Daryl had no clue what she meant but saw the dog move towards them. He immediatly dropped his hand and her wrist.

*"Sitz!"

She spoke to the dog again. He immediately sat.

"Didn' mean no harm, was just wonderin' what they was is all," he told her, not sounding very convincing to either one of them.

"Dog tags" she answered

" Yea I figured as much, yours? "

She thought for a moment then turned her back to him and with one quick move pulled the sports bra over her head. Across her shoulder is block lettering read:

**SEMPER FI**

She pulled the bra back done and turned back to him, but not after he caught sight of more horrendous scars that criss crossed her back , or a brief glimpse of the round side of her left breast. The stirring in his pants starting again.

" Honor, courage, committment, booyah!" she told him a wistful look came upon her face as if thinking about it brought back unpleasant memories. She moved towards him again.

"Can I get back to .." she motioned to his head.

"Yeah, sure" Daryl eyed her. He was finding himself more and more curious about this woman. She had been a solider and obviously had seen and been through many unpleasant things. He wanted to ask her but then again didn't. What he really didn't like was the strange way he was feeling inside. He tried to focus his attention elsewhere, but she was standing so close to him , her body leaning into him as she cleaned his wound. If he stretched out his fingers the tips would graze her breast, and he had to control himself from doing just that. Damn it! He had to focus elsewhere or he was going to get quite uncomfortable again real quick. Why the hell didn't she put some clothes on? Maybe it didn't bother her to run around practically naked, but it sure as hell was bothering him.

"Uh, wouldn't you like to maybe get dressed first or sumpthin'?" he asked her.

She paused and looked at him, a smile again just playing at her lips.

"You find me ugly? Think I need to cover up?"

"No,I.. I din' mean it like that!" he stammered.

"Then what did you mean?" she asked with a glint in her eye.

" I mean, I meant.. aww hell.. do what you want!" he huffed.

" I always do!" she sang out.

"_Damn her!"_ Daryl thought to himself as he again shifted uncomfortably.

"Besides," She made a motion with her shoulder, "My clothes are still drying, they're over there."

Daryl decided it was time to change the subject.

He turned his attention to the dog, who was sitting just a few feet away.

" Nice dog, he gots a name?" he asked her.

"Yes he has a name." she replied. Her eyes dancing in merriment and a grin forming on her lips as she teased him.

"Dammit woman is it top secret? Can I know what the damn dog's name is?" Daryl wasn't sure if her teasing pissed him off or he liked it, his head was too foggy to wrap around anything right now.

"Well you didn't ask WHAT his name was, just if he had one." there was that smile again. She paused for a moment,

"Sam, his name is Sam."

Sam let out a small 'woof' in acknowledgement.

"Sam wants to know what your name is cowboy, I am assuming it's Daryl from what you said earlier." She said as she continued to dab at his forehead. "Yes, you're going to need about 6 stitches, I can fix that up pretty quick, I can use a topical numbing solution on it to take some of the sting out while I suture, I really don't want to use the heavy duty stuff since it's not that bad." she seemed to be more talking to herself than to Daryl.

"Hey you're the doc,Doc. Whatever you say." he flinched slightly as she used a q-tip to apply a the ointment to the laceration. It stung!

She busied herself in what looked to be a giant tackle box which Daryl realized held numerous medical supplies.

" So uh Doc, ya got a name?" he asked sheepishly?

She gave him a sly smile.

"Yes I have a .."

"Oh fer chrissake,girl! You know what I mean!" She was impossible he thought!

She turned to look at him held out her hand and smiled.

Cautiously he took her hand, she had a firm grip as she shook his.

"Nice to meet you Daryl, I'm Stacie"

Daryl knew right then and there he was in trouble.

**A/N Sam's commands: Braver Hund = Good boy , Hier= Come, Sitz= sit**

**Thanks again for reading. It may be a little over a week before I get the next chapter out due to vacation. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N This chapter may bounce back and forth from a sort of Stacie's POV and Daryl's. Please remember I have never written anything before so if this seems a little strange I am well open to reviews and suggestions. Enjoy!**

She summed him up right there and then.

He was probably between 38 and 42. Not very educated, probably had the "white trash" label attached to him one too many times. Idea of a good time was getting drunk and watching Nascar.

Stacie scolded herself for being so judgemental. She regrouped and thought this over.

Between the ages of 38-42, self-reliant, and had enough feelings to go out and look for a little girl. Besides that he was muscular and not that hard on the eye... her thoughts started to wander to less lady like thoughts of what he looked like out of the grimy,torn clothes.

_"Ugh, stop thinking like a testosterone riddled high school boy." _she scolded herself.

Still, he was attractive in a dirty, rednecky way.

_"Oh stop Stacie!"_ That little voice in her head told her.

She turned back to the laceration on his head, yes she was aware of the turmoil going on inside of him. It wasn't just women's intuition telling her, it was also what was going on inside her, and she did not like it.

"_He wants to touch you, he wants more than to touch you."_

_"Let him..."_

She listened to the inner battle going on inside of her, hormones raging.

_"STOP!, what the fuck are you thinking?" _Aw hell, here came Ms. Rational Thoughts.

She glanced at Daryl as his attention seemed to be on Sam. He wasn't bad-looking at all, about 6 foot, 2 inches taller than her 5'10, dirty blond/brown hair, medium build but the muscles bulged in his arms and thighs. He was somewhere around her age of 39. Other that being filthy and smelling somewhere between a sweaty horse and road kill she imagined he cleaned up just fine. Certainly not her type.

_"Since when did you ever have a "type"?"_

She was well aware of his eyes on her going over the horrible scars that riddled her body. She felt a sense of uneasiness. Could she actually be self conscious?

_"Well you are standing only inches from him wearing only your skivvies,"_ she thought to herself. But that had never bothered her before, there was no time for modesty when she was with her unit overseas. Not getting killed was the goal there, not worrying about who saw you in your underwear. In the past she wore bathing suits made of less material, still...

She had started to suture his wound. He held still for the most part, only a flinch here and there, keeping his eyes closed. She was tying off the 3rd suture she heard him gasp,his eyes open wide. She knew what was coming, he had seen the bite scars.

The one he saw was on her right bicep, it was almost perfectly round, the flesh still having a pink shine to it since it was a recent injury.

"You been fuckin' bit!" he shouted at her trying now to get up and move away from her, grabbing his crossbow as he did, raising it to her,but remained seated.

She stared at the crossbow and back at him,feeling a surge of anger, but stayed in perfect control.

"Several times," she replied quietly, not sure how this conversation was going to go.

Daryl looked at her, eyes seeming to bulge out.

"But..how?" he stopped and started. "Why aintcha dead?!" he was shouting again.

"Shhh..lower your voice."She looked around at the woods surrounding them, she eased back up to him slowly pushing the crossbow to the side.

"Let me just get another stitch..."

"No, stop, stop just fucking stop!" frustration obvious in his grabbed her arm and held it tight, ever aware the dog could pounce on him at any time. He stood up, grasping even tighter on her arm.

"Those are scars" he stated.

_"Well done Mr. Obvious," _Stacie thought to herself. Many biting words came to her , but she held her tongue, always calm.

" How is it you are still alive and not turned into one of them skanks ?" He was somewhat calmer now, sounding somewhere between disgusted and disbelief.

Stacy thought for a moment, she owed him nothing, not even the truth. She could make up some bullshit story. In the end the truth won out, but she wasnt going to give him much.

" I really don't want to go into much detail and truth be known I would like to forget it all together." She told him

She backed away from him as he released his grip on her arm, but still his eyes didn't leave her face.

"To cut to the chase, I was nothing more than a lab rat, my blood carries antibodies that prevents me from being killed or turning into one of those things just from a bite," she paused and took another eyes holding hers.

" I can't die from just a bite alone, but I can if bitten in a vital spot,blood loss, hell I can be shot or fall and break my neck and still die. But I won't from just from a bite. Also when I die I will never turn into one of those things." She stopped there, she told him enough.

Daryl was at a loss for words, he was trying to process what her heard her say.

The silence hung between them, both eyeing the other.

Daryl stepped closer to her, their faces inches apart. She could feel his breath on her face.

"You know how this all happened don't you?" he asked.

Stacie didn't move or comment at first, and now she was avoiding his gaze as she looked over at Sam,who watched the interaction intently. She was unsure what to tell him. Not knowing if he could comprehend it.

She nodded. "I have an idea,"

Daryl looked at her expectantly. "Go on"

"Chemically engineered biological warfare gone bad,"she paused. " There is no cure, before you even ask, but they were working on it using my blood, but then everything went to hell and the lab was overrun." she stopped there. Vague didn't even describe her condensed version, but he didn't need to know anything else, it was irrelevant.

Daryl looked at her for a moment, the reached in and grabbed her arm again and gave her a slight shove.

"Hey!" she stared at him, he caught her off guard.

" What's your problem? I didn't have to tell you jack and I did, so you shove me?" she was in his face now, hands balled up. Sam let out a low growl.

Daryl looked from her to the dog, not sure which one he had to worry about first. He was pissed about the whole situation. Figures it was some government fuck up to end the world. He looked over at Sam.

" Aw hell, it just all fucking sucks you know?" he pushed by her and stomped off.

He got a few yards and stopped, turned back to looked her up and down, taking her whole body in. She was a train wreck of scars that's for sure.

"So how did you get the rest of them?" he asked her point-blank. He motioned with his hand."The rest of them scars?"

Stacie just looked at him and didn't know why she felt so uncomfortable under his gaze. It seemed as if his eyes were boring right through her, into her soul. As if he could read her mind and see her inner turmoil. She felt naked. She didn't like talking about her past, and usually would just tell anyone curious enough to ask to go mind their own damn business. But not him, for some reason, like she was with Sam, she couldn't lie to him.

Stacie sighed.

" I've seen a lot of combat." she told him."So I carry the battle scars."

Daryl shook his head in disgust and in 3 large strides was within inches of her.

"These?" his fingers lightly traced over scars on her bare torso, sending small shock like pleasures throughout her body from the warmth of him touching her. His eyes were on hers again, and her sudden intake of breath didn't go unnoticed.

"Aint no battle scars, you was whipped, and cut girl, all overs ya." his voice lowered now, but still Stacie detected an edge of anger in it.

"Who did such horrible things to you?" Daryl demanded. He really wanted to know, but had no clue why he was feeling the way he was. It was as if his body was possessed and he was fighting it. He didn't want to know about her, he didn't want to care, but yet here he was almost in a rage over the fact she had been hurt deliberately. He didn't know a damn thing about her, but found himself wanting to know everything. It was taking everything he had in him to stop from just taking her right then and there, to let her know he would never hurt her or let anyone else ever again. He...

_"Oh for chissake you fuckin' idiot stop with the stupid mushy thoughts, especially over some broad you just met." _Daryl said to himself angrily.

He immediately pulled his hand away, spat angrily on the ground as he turned from her and positioned himself once again on the back of the vehicle.

"Best finish it up for I bleed to death" he grumbled at her.

Stacie swallowed and nodded, unsure of what just happened. She had beaten men senseless for just disrespecting her, and here she was letting a stranger touch her in a most intimate way. Again she felt the anger rise in her and berated herself for being weak. She let a huff out under her breath.

"Did you just huff at me?" Daryl asked her as she started on the 4th stitch.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Yes, you do, you actually huffed." he scowled at her but he had a glint in his eye.

_"Jerk" _she thought and inserted the cutting needle again,possibly with a little more force then necessary.

"Ouch! Dammit woman, what the hell?" he barked at her.

"Sorry! Don't be such a baby." Stacie grinned to herself, see if he touches her again.

Daryl continued to mutter under his breath and Sam let out another chuff, as if finding their interactions funny.

"Great, you huff and your dog laughs, what a pair," but there was an edge of amusement in his voice.

Still Stacie said nothing and continued to work on his head. They both remained silent for a few minutes. Daryl finally broke it.

"So where'd ya get that mutt anyways?" he asked her.

"I've had him." she told him, which was true in a sense.

Daryl thought for a moment. Then relaxed and let her continue to work on him.

"Tell me bout him?" It was more of a question then a demand.

Stacie cut the 4th suture and started on the 5th.

"Sam is very special," she started. "He has saved my life more times than I can count, not just in Iraq, but here as well."

Sam, as if knowing he was the topic of conversation, let out a "woof" and then stretched out on the ground, listening to his mistress speak.

"He can sense them you know." she stated matter of factly.

"Huh, what?" Daryl asked.

Stacie inserted the cutting needle again, as gently as possible, and then continued.

"The dead, he can detect them long before I hear or see them, so If he starts to growl or whine and it's not directed at you, you best be on your guard."

She was close to him again. Daryl could smell the soapy scent of what ever she had used to wash the dog with, he liked how it smelled.

"So he was with you when you was fightin' overseas?"

"Yep, that's where I got him." she tied and cut the 5th stitch and looked at the wound.

" I think 5 will do it, you should be good, just let me cover it." she placed a piece of gauze over it and secured it with tape.

"Just keep an eye on it, watch for infection." she gathered up the empty packages and took them over to the low burning camp fire she had and tossed them in the fire.

Daryl watched her as she walked away from him. Oh the ass she had on her! If she had any ideas the thoughts going through his head she would probably kill him, but he couldn't help but picture her on a bed on all fours...

"_Fuck!"_ he almost shouted it out loud.

_"Stop leering at her like you are some school yard pervert!" _angered at himself because once again parts of his body had a mind of their own and were now springing to life, making his work pants uncomfortable. He tried to shift himself around before she turned around and caught him.

_"Dammit!"_

Too late, she had spun around quickly and caught him with his hand on his crotch trying to rearrange himself.

She raised an eyebrow and a small smile played at her lips, but she averted her eyes and said nothing. Daryl just wanted the earth to open up and swallow him. She walked back over to him.

"So how's that feel?" she asked him slyly, another smile starting to take over her face.

"Whaa..?" Daryl stammered and actually turned red. What the hell did she just ask him? How was he supposed to answer that?

Stacie knew she had put him on the spot and had to rescue him. She pointed to his head.

" Your head, how's that feel?" her whole face was lit up with a smile now.

"What did you think I meant?" she asked him sweetly, biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

"I, uh..I.. it's fine, FINE!" Daryl tried to storm off but tripped over a box nearby almost falling on his face. He caught himself before he was totally humiliated.

"What the hell? What's up with all these boxes?" he looked around at the several boxes of bleach on the ground.

"Bleach? What the fuck? You one of those crazy clean women that use bleach on everything?" he asked her as he kicked angrily at the box.

He reminded Stacie of a pouting school boy, she couldn't stop smiling at him. He was cute when he was angry.

"Damn woman stop grinning at me like i'm an idiot or sumpthin!" Why did he shout at her so much?

"No,no I don't think that." she told him. She bent over to upright the box of bleach he kicked over.

"You don't know about the bleach?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Well from what I have seen, these things smell us out," she took out a gallon of bleach."The bleach masks our smell, or seems to, I usually just spray it around the car when I sleep at night or around where I made camp, they go right by us, as long as you stay quiet." She held out the container of bleach to him.

" I assume that maybe ammonia works the same way."

Daryl looked at her dumbfounded. He had been with her a very short time and had already learned a lot from her. She was a huge asset, not only for her medical skills, but her knowledge of this whole mess they were in.

She put the gallon of bleach back in the box,picked it up and put it into the back of the truck. She stepped back and looked up at the sky.

"Getting late." She said. " Going to be dark soon" she headed back over to the campfire. Daryl watched appreciatively as she bent over to get her clothes that had dried by the fire. In a quick motion she pulled a grey t-shirt over her head.

" Tell me about your group, and how a little girl wound up in the woods."

Daryl found himself telling her more than that. He told her all about the trials of the past few weeks. He told her about Atlanta, the attacks at the quarry, the trip to the CDC and finally about the herd on the gave her a quick summary on the people in his group, both what he knew and what he thought of them. He left out telling her about Merle, it was still a raw subject for him. He talked more to her than he had spoken in the last month all together. Stacie listened intently, giving a nod here and there,but remained silent. She had since pulled on a pair of black BDU pants and was now perched on the back of the truck lacing up a pair of boots. When she was done she stood and turned to him.

"Your group is probably wondering what happened to you, I can give you a lift to them or..." she looked around at the darkening woods. " You can rough it out with me tonight and get back to them first thing in the morning."

_"You want him to stay and you know it!" _her inner voice was at it again. It was true, she didn't want him to leave yet.

Daryl panicked. He wasn't ready to part company with her yet, and was hoping that she would consider joining up with them. Part of him knew he should get back with his group, especially with them already dealing with Sophia and now if he didn't show up. The other part of him thought they could go to hell, he didn't owe them a thing and they probably could care less if he returned or not. He looked at Stacie, as if wanting some sort of sign from her what she wanted, but she was bent over Sam petting him and talking softly to him.

Daryl shrugged and acted like it wasn't a big deal.

"Don't matter to me, you got some grub around here?"

**SORRY EVERYONE IT TOOK AWHILE TO GET THIS CHAPTER OUT,MY VACATION TURNED INTO A PERMANENT MOVE. I WILL GET THE NEXT CHAPTER OUT AS SOON AS I CAN. THANKS FOR READING AND PLEASE KEEP THE COMMENTS COMING! **


	5. Chapter 5

**CONTINUING ON WITH THE STORY...**

Daryl cut away another piece of the rabbit that Stacie had roasted. He didn't realize how hungry he was until he could smell it cooking over the open fire. She offered her camp to him for the night, her food, and he jumped at the chance. He offered in 2 squirrels he had shot while hunting for Sophia.

They ate, and they talked. Daryl was especially talkative, partially due to the fact that before dinner Stacie produced a bottle of Southern Comfort that they passed back and forth between them. It put Daryl at ease around her now and had loosened his tongue. He talked about life before the Walkers. She found out about his passion for the Georgia hills. How he loved the solitude of going out into the woods for days at a time alone. She figured he wasn't a people person, more of a loner like herself. Daryl discovered that Stacie had grown up outside DC, but had grandparents she had summered with in Georgia. She had a twin brother Stephan, who she did not know was alive or dead, and that she had followed in her parent's footsteps. Her father had been some high-ranking military official, and her mother a surgeon. She too, had learned her way around the woods at a young age thanks to her parents who were avid hunters and card-carrying members of the NRA. He could tell she had a privileged childhood without her saying much about it. Quite the opposite of what Daryl had growing up in a 2 bedroom trailer with he and Merle sharing a room. Daryl did not tell her much of his personal life except both his parents were dead, he did finally open up to her about Merle and how he got left on the roof in Atlanta.

"Did you go back for him?"She asked.

Daryl told her briefly about how they did and only finding Merle's hand and the hacksaw he used to cut it off with after Rick left him handcuffed.

"Tough man your brother must be, I can't say I would do that myself." she shook her head and thought for a minute.

" I have seen others alive, but none that were missing a hand."

"You've been with others?" he asked right away.

She didn't reply right away. Instead she reached for a dead branch to toss on the fire.

"Not exactly been with them, I have seen them but not to interact with."

She looked right at him, choosing her words carefully, and spoke again:

" There are worse things out here then the dead, Daryl."

He waited and when she didn't elaborate he nodded.

"Ay yuh, guess there is." he said softly.

She offered nothing more. Daryl waited to see she would tell him at least a little bit of how she really came about the scars, but she didn't. He wasn't really sure he wanted to know. He was having a hard time processing the thoughts that came in and out of his head.

The three sat around the fire and finished the meal, putting a good dent into the bottle of SoCo. Sam enjoyed the pieces of meat in his bowl along with his dog food. Daryl had noticed several large bags of it in the back of the truck.

" If he eats meat all the time he gets sick." Stacie had explained to him. Daryl's only response was a grunt. To him it seemed silly to haul around 50lbs of some fancy dog food. Dogs could eat what he ate. He wasn't about to tell her that one time he was so hungry and food so scarce that a dog almost wound up on the dinner table.

He finished up the rabbit he was eating and went over to the stream to wash up.

" I've got clean clothes if you want to wash and uh, maybe burn those." Stacie told him. He looked over to where she was sitting, a grin on her face and a glint in her eye. She slowly took another sip from the bottle, her eyes on his.

"Yeah well I probably do smell pretty rank, not to mention muddy." Some thoughts now starting to form in his mind, fuzzy from the alcohol. He shook them away.

Stacie put down the bottle and got went to the back of the truck and rummaged around for a few minutes. She walked over to Daryl and handed him a towel and a bar of soap.

"Won't lie, water's a little cold." She told him.

"I'm used ta it." His eyes met hers briefly until she turned and headed back to the truck and again continued her rummaging.

"Clothes are here somewhere, I'll find them while you are washing."

Daryl sat down and began to unlace his boots.

Suddenly Sam rose to his feet and began to growl at the brush closest to the camp.

Daryl jumped up as Stacie tossed him his crossbow. She held her kukuri in one hand and a hand gun in the other.

They waited.

Sam's growling became louder as there was crashing in the underbrush. Two walkers appeared at the edge of the clearing and began lumbering towards them.

" I got this." Stacie told him and started towards the rotting corpses.

"No." Daryl had reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.

" We got this."

_"Really? Really? What's this "we" shit? You sound like an idiot!"_ Even with 2 walkers bearing down on them Daryl couldn't help but berate himself.

Stacie nodded and continued walking to the walker closest to it kukuri raised.

Daryl easily put a bolt through the one walker's skull, as Stacie sliced through the head of the other one. Black ooze spraying forth.

" I hate it when that happens." She was wiping at her face that had gotten some of the blood on it then wiping her hands on her tshirt. She motioned with her sword.

"Let's drag them over there." she kicked at the corpse once then grabbed its feet and began to drag it.

"Hopefully the legs will hold up and not tear apart"

Daryl just stared at her. He wasn't used to seeing a woman kill a walker and not be a basket case afterwards,no screaming, no crying. She was very matter of fact about it. He set down his bow and grabbed the feet of the other one and drug it over to where she was.

" This is 3 here today." She told him. "Hopefully there won't be anymore tonight."

"They are pretty much turnin' up everywhere now." he told her. He looked over at her, the rays of the setting sun on her face.

" Uh, you got blood all over you." he said motioning with his hand to his face.

Her hand went up to her face again and came away covered with the black blood. Stacie let out a sigh.

"Figures." She kicked at the corpses again and stomped off over to the truck. Daryl watching her as she went. Sam too, never taking his eyes from his mistress.

"Braver hund Sam, good boy." she patted him on the head as she went by.

Daryl still hadn't moved from his spot, he just watched her. She went again to the back of the truck and pulled her shirt off over her head and mopped her face. She then perched on the back of the open truck and started to unlace her boots pulling them off one at a time. She stood and began to undo her pants. That pushed Daryl into action. He went back over to the stream and again sat down and began to unlace his boots. He needed a distraction so he wouldn't gawk at her as she changed.

Stripped down now to his grimy boxers he plunged into the water. He gritted his teeth. The thigh deep water was cold. It sobered him up immediately. He ducked under submerging himself. He came up for air and began scrubbing himself furiously with the bar of soap, not paying any attention to his recently stitched laceration stinging, or the fact he shouldn't have gotten the stitches wet. He did not want to look up and see Stacie in any stage of undress for fear of what he would do. No woman had ever had the knee jerk effect on him like she did. Not glancing up he turned his back to the camp and continued to scrub. After a bit a noise behind him spun him back around. Stacie stood behind him in the stream, again just wearing her underwear. She had undone her braid and her hair fell in waves around her face to her shoulders. Daryl had the sudden urge to just grab her and pull her into him, but restrained himself after seeing the look on her face.

"Your back..." she started.

"Yeah, my back, what about it?" He asked nastily, already knowing what she was going to say.

Stacie swallowed and looked away, trying not to be rude and stare at his scars, unlike how he had been. His eyes went over her body again, her scars.

" You have scars also, I guess we both have been fucked over." Her voice almost a whisper and hard for him to hear over the rushing water.

"You could say that."

He shrugged. He knew his scars were nowhere near as bad as hers were, but still they were there. Constant reminders of his daddy's wicked temper and belt. All the times he had cried himself to sleep from the pain. The days he went unable to sit down. Even wearing clothes had hurt, but if he let on to the pain it only meant worse beatings. A time in his life he would like to forget and not be reminded of it.

" And, uh you shouldn't get the stitches wet." Still she wouldn't look at him but busied herself washing off her arms and face.

"Aw fuck it." He abruptly stood and headed angrily out of the water. He lost his footing, fell into her, knocking her on her backside in the water landing on top of her.

Sputtering Daryl tried to stand up.

"Oh christ, sorry, you ok?" He struggled to regain his footing, pulling her up with him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." she sputtered, her hands on his shoulders to get her balance. His on her waist. She regained her balance and pushed her wet hair from her face.

"I'm..." She started to speak but Daryl cut her off by suddenly taking her face in his hands. His blue eyes searching her green ones, as if looking for a cue from her. He ran his thumb over her lips, which were cold and trembling. Slowly he started to pull her face closer to his.

Stacie inhaled sharply, feeling his thumb on her lips. She ran her tongue over it lightly, then leaned into him and kissed him, lightly at first until his hands found his way into her hair,grabbing it by the fistfuls and pulling her as close as possible. Kissing her hard, his tongue parted reaching for hers. She let out an involuntary moan. She wanted him,desired him. She arched her body to him. His hands coming free of her hair and worked their way down her back. He cupped her backside with his hands and pulled it into his body. Every nerve he had screamed for her. Her hands worked their way up his back slowly, caressing him up and then down to the small of his back. Involuntarily she pulled him towards her.

The kiss went on. All Daryl wanted to do was push her to the ground and take her... he didn't care.. this was all that mattered here and now.

Stacie found her footing and eased them back to the bank. Every nerve in her body screaming for him.

She wanted him.

**THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND PATIENCE WILL I GET SETTLED INTO MY NEW TOWN :)**


	6. Daryl and Stacie

She wanted him, and knew he wanted the same. Her body trembled beneath his touch. She could feel his trembling also. Was it lust ? Or was it...

She broke from the kiss.

"Cold" She whispered to him. More a statement than a question.

Daryl nodded.

"Ay yuy, it is."

Still he didn't move, his eyes searching her face and once again his lips coming down on hers. They were both freezing in the stream, with the sun setting behind them. A light wind blowing making the air even colder.

Stacie could feel Daryl shaking. She broke away again.

" I don't want to stop." She said. "And I want more."

She held him, arms wrapped tightly around his continued on.

"We both are freezing, lets dry off and see where this goes."

Daryl didn't know what to say so he nodded. He liked how direct she was,but he wasn't used to a woman telling him what she wanted to do. Most of his life any type of encounter with a female was brief, and he lacked in the sexuality department. His love life was summed up to a few clandestine back seat encounters when all he did was fumble around and hope he did things right, with little satisfaction. He knew this would be different.

Stacie stood, the ice cold wather running down her body. Daryl could see the outline of her hardend nipples against her sports bra. She made her way back out into the deeper part of the stream and submerged, rising again and began scrubbing at her hair.

Daryl felt an ache in his loins just watching her, but the cold water was cruel to his manhood, so he made his way out of the stream and to the towel Stacie had gotten him.

Christ he was freezing!

He started to dry himself off. Sam, who had been lounging by the fire looked and Daryl and gave a "Chuff".

"What the hell you laughing at,dog?" he asked Sam.

Sam responded by laying his head on his paws, his eyes watching Daryl as he dried off. Daryl muttered under his breath and went to the back of the truck. Stacie had put out clothes for him. He pulled a dry t shirt over his head and then held up the pants. They were plain khakis and looked about the right size. He was about to pull them on when he realized he was still in his wet dirty boxers.

"_What the hell"_ he thought to himself. He pulled them off and quickly pulled the khakis on. Not the first time he had gone "commando".

As he pulled them up he turned back towards the stream, only to find Stacie right behind him. Her body still dripping wet from the stream. She stepped next to him and grabbed a towel and began drying off, not even glancing in his direction. If she got an eyeful she didn't lead on.

Daryl pulled the dry t-shirt on over his head while Stacie towel dried her hair. Not wanting to seem like he was waiting for her to strip out of her wet things he grabbed his boots and socks and made his way over to the fire where he sat down and started to pull his socks on. What a strange day this had turned out to be. Briefly Daryl's thoughts turned to the group and mainly Sophia. He should be out looking for her but here he is cozying up to a camp fire with a broad he just met. He could picture the look on Carol's face when he found out. Angrily he pushed those thoughts from his mind.

"_I don't owe anyone shit."_ he muttered to himself.

He tossed another branch on the fire. It was almost dark now and turning colder, but he didn't want the fire too high for fear walkers may see it.

"It's really getting cold, so lets build this baby up." Stacie was next to him now and started tossing branches on the fire.

"I din' wanna draw any unwanted attention." He told her.

" It's good, if any show up we can just get in the truck. Sam will let us know if any are near."

At the sound of his name Sam picked his heads up off his paws and looked at his mistress for a moment before putting it back down.

Daryl shook his head, he couldn't figure her out. She wasn't worried about drawing attention of the walkers. Hell she didn't seem to worry about anything.

"Jus' how long you been out here?" He asked her.

"Out where?" She looked around. "Here in these woods? In Georgia? On the road?" She looked at him questioningly.

Daryl looked at her. Her hair, still damp, fell past her shoulders. She had changed into black BDUs and a black oversized Pittsburgh Steelers sweat shirt pushed up to her elbow.

"_Girl could wear a burlap sack and still look good in it."_ Daryl thought to himself.

"Just out here I guess." Daryl waved his hand to the dark woods.

"Few days, just checking things out, no one else is nearby if that's what your concern is. I had come from checking out my grand parent's place just seeing if any of my family was there." she paused and poked a stick at the fire, then picked up the bottle of Soco and took another swig.

" I didn't find anyone at my grandparents." she paused. "Anyone alive that is."

From the tone of her voice Daryl didn't press for any further information. If she wanted to talk, he would listen, but from the way she was draining the bottle of alcohol she wasnt taking the topic any further.

Night had fallen now and closed in around them. Daryl kept stealing glances at her in the firelight. Her hair hung around her shoulders now, a slight curl to it as it dried. There was something about her that made his stomach flutter and made his head swim with all sorts of thoughts, some he was not used to having. She looked over at him and smiled, holding the bottle out to him. Daryl took it from her and in one long swig drained the bottle, his mind growing fuzzier under the influence of the alcohol. It was also giving him a sense of bravado. He got up and moved next to her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him.

"This ok?" he asked her, his voice husky.

She nodded at him and pressed her body into his, taking in his body warmth.

Daryl looked around.

"So uh, where do you sleep? Out here by the fire?"

She shook her head. "No in the truck." she told him. "Plenty of room." she looked up at him and gave him a playful smile.

Daryl rubbed a hand over his chin, gave her a sheepish smile.

"Uh maybe we can go see how much room," he said to her in a very un-Daryl like forward statement.

Stacie looked at him a moment, her eyes holding his. They seemed to glow in the firelight. She nodded, pulled away from him and stood. He stood up also, too quickly for the alcohol had made him light-headed, but he wasnt going to let her know that.

She strode purposefully to the back of the truck and started moving things around. Daryl followed her.

She laid out thick thermal sleeping bags and pillows. She let out a low whistle and Sam launched himself into the back of the vehicle and made his way to the front passenger seat and immediately curled up.

Stacie sat on the back of the truck and unlaced her boots, pulled them off and climb inside. Daryl followed suit. The back of the truck was roomier than it looked. Like the size of a Navigator he once did work on.

Once both inside Stacie pulled down the gate. Daryl suddenly found himself having butterflies in his stomach. Could he be, of all things, nervous? He shook his head as if to shake those thoughts out of his head.

"Hey you ok?" she asked him softly.

"Yeah,'m fine." he mumbled. Dammit what was wrong with him? He felt like a school boy all over again, shy and unsure of himself.

Stacie reached her hands up to his head, running her hands through his hair and pulled his face into hers, her soft lips on his.

Daryl felt hopelessly lost in her kiss, he kissed her back gently at first, then harder with a sense of urgency. He loved how she tasted and he wanted more. His arms encircling her and his hands on her back pulling her into him.

Sam suddenly let out a growl, followed by a whine.

Stacie broke from the kiss and glanced around outside furtively.

Sam's whine increased as he too looked out the window trying to see what he had sensed.

"Wha..?" Daryl started to reach for his crossbow, but Stacie placed her hand on his arm.

"No," she whispered. " Wait and watch.

She pressed herself back into him but still watching outside, his arms went back around her and he held her to him.

Sure enough, several walkers came out of the brush, heading towards the truck. Sam immediately stopped whining and fell silent.

Walker after walker came out of the woods.

"Christ it's another herd!" Daryl whispered urgently. "We have to get out of here!"

"SHHH!" Stacie cut him off. "Just watch." she whispered.

As the walkers made their way towards the vehicle Daryl watched in amazement as the herd seemed to go out of thier way to avoid walking close to the truck. There were about 20 of them, and they completely ignored the truck. Gave it wide berth as they passed.

Daryl watched in amazement. "How..?" he whispered to her.

"It's the bleach." she said.

"Bleach?"

"Yes, it is why I always have it. I spray it around the truck, or my camp. It either masks how I smell or it repels them, not sure which one, but as long as it keeps them away..." she trailed off and just continued to watch.

Daryl looked at her, she amazed him. She was very intelligent and beautiful. It was at that moment he realized she was out of his league. He dropped his arms from around her and started to pull away.

She turned to him.

" Daryl?" she asked him inquisitively. She sensed a change in his demeanor.

'What?" he wouldn't look at here..just kept watching the walkers.

Stacie nudged him. "You ok?" she asked him.

"I should get back to my group." he said without looking at her, then hating himself for saying so.

"_You pussy! You are scared! You have the best thing that has ever happened to you laying in your arms and you are running away"_ his inner voice was practically yelling at him.

"Are you sure?" she asked him, not looking at him but suddenly lifting his shirt, and kissing his lower abdomen.

" Oh God, no.." his voice trailed off. He was helpless under her lips and tongue.

She undid the top of his pants.


End file.
